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From today's featured article

The white-eyed river martin (Pseudochelidon sirintarae) is a passerine bird in the swallow family. First found in 1968, it is known only from a single wintering site in Thailand, and may be extinct, since there have been no confirmed sightings since 1980 despite targeted surveys in Thailand and Cambodia. The adult has mainly glossy greenish-black plumage, a white rump, and a tail with two long central feathers that widen to a racket-shaped tip. It has a white eye ring and a broad, bright greenish-yellow bill. The juvenile lacks the tail ornaments and is browner. Like other swallows, it feeds on insects caught in flight, and its wide bill suggests that it may take relatively large species. It roosts in reed beds in winter, and may nest in river sandbanks. Its apparent demise may have been hastened by trapping, loss of habitat and dam construction. The martin is one of only two birds endemic to Thailand. The country's government has featured the bird on a stamp and a commemorative coin. (This article is part of a featured topic: River martin.)

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Did you know ...

Modern British Household Cavalry soldiers wearing Albert helmets

... that a version of the Albert helmet proposed by Prince Albert in 1842 is still worn by the British Army's Household Cavalry (soldiers pictured)?
... that Yasunori Oshima served as the hitting coach for the Japan national baseball team that won the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006?
... that although "Chi Mat Ba Ram", the title of the song by Brave Girls, translates to "the swish of a skirt" in Korean, a term that is often used negatively, the song is about the fierceness in women?
... that Nicaraguan cartoonist Pedro X. Molina has had to flee his home country twice in his lifetime?
... that the Police Anti-Terrorist Unit joined Rhodesian military operations in police uniform and were only issued camouflage after a soldier hesitated because a target wore the same colour trousers?
... that Alvin Bragg has overseen lawsuits against the Donald J. Trump Foundation, Harvey Weinstein, and The Weinstein Company, and represented the families of Eric Garner and Ramarley Graham?
... that the lap steel guitar was the first "foreign" musical instrument to gain a foothold in American pop music?
... that during the War of the Lombards, fighting was interrupted so that the corpse of the besieged Queen Alice could be handed over to her husband, who had never seen her alive?

In the news

Road destroyed by floods near Satara

Flooding (damage pictured) in western Maharashtra, India, results in more than 250 deaths.
The Saint Lucia Labour Party wins the general election, and Philip Pierre becomes prime minister.
The 2020 Summer Olympics open in Tokyo, Japan.
The Australian city of Brisbane is announced as the host city of the 2032 Summer Olympics.
In sumo, Terunofuji Haruo becomes the 73rd yokozuna.
Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City in England is stripped of its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to modern development in the area.

On this day

July 31: Lā Hae Hawaiʻi (Flag Day) and Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea (Sovereignty Restoration Day) in Hawaii (1843)

Mount Fuji

781 – The first recorded eruption of Japan's Mount Fuji (pictured) took place.
1423 – Hundred Years' War: The English and their Burgundian allies were victorious over the French at the Battle of Cravant near Auxerre, France.
1777 – The Second Continental Congress passed a resolution commissioning the Marquis de Lafayette as a major general in the American revolutionary forces.
1941 – The Holocaust: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring authorised SS General Reinhard Heydrich to handle preparations for "the Final Solution of the Jewish question".
1991 – Soviet Special Purpose Police Unit troops killed seven Lithuanian customs officials in Medininkai in the most serious attack of their campaign against Lithuanian border posts.

William Courtenay (d. 1396)
Jean-Gaspard Deburau (b. 1796)
J. K. Rowling (b. 1965)

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Today's featured picture

Coprinellus micaceus is a common species of fungus in the family Psathyrellaceae with a cosmopolitan distribution. It is a saprotrophic species, deriving nutrients from dead and decomposing wood. The fruiting body grows in clusters and is commonly known as the mica cap or shiny cap because of the fine layer of reflective mica-like cells on the cap surface. The fungus is edible soon after collection, but after a few hours, the gills begin to slowly dissolve into a black, inky, spore-laden liquid. These C. micaceus mushrooms were photographed near Erbach an der Donau, Germany.

Photograph credit: Holger Krisp

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